Chapter Text
At that time Nico was in the middle of unpacking. He, Will, Lou Ellen, and Cecil had just moved into their dorms. His room was fairly small. It was painted green and purple. The color choice wasn't bad, Nico thought. The room was dark but not too dark. Much unlike his cabin at Camp Half-Blood.
He was putting his clothes up his drawer when he heard a knock at the door. He turned to see a tall, dark-haired boy standing in the doorway. He seemed about a year older than Nico. The boy was holding a book in his hand. Nico was about to ask him what he was doing when the boy started speaking.
"Hey, Nico right?" The boy asked, "Yeah, you're my new roommate! For the rest of the year!" The boy seemed excited at this thought. Probably because he'd never had a roommate before Nico. And Nico knew how it feels like to be living alone.
"Alright, cool." Nico gave him a smile. "Do you mind telling me your name?" Nico asked. "Sure, sorry," the boy gave him an apologizing look, "my name's Thomas."
Nico finished unpacking and went outside his room. The hall was long and wide, and it was decorated with pictures of different times. He saw a couple of pictures of the second World War. Nico felt somehow awkward-ish. As a child, that's what he saw on the newspapers. It was a part of his childhood. He wasn't able to let that go. And seeing it be remembered like that, he suddenly felt like he needed some air. And also, he wanted to see Hazel. He descended down the stairs, into the second floor and searched for her room, room 201.
"Hazel?" Nico called out from the door. Her room was the closest room to the stairs.
"Come in!" Hazel shouted from inside. Nico opened the door to see a nice, neat room. The walls were painted white and pink. The colours somehow fitted Hazel. Hazel greeted him with a smile.
"Hey, I heard you decided to attend here, so tell me, what do you think?" Hazel wanted to know how Nico felt, and if he had made any new friends so far.
"Well, it doesn't seem so bad, you know. I live two floors, up, with Thomas, he's a nice guy." Nico described to Hazel how his room looked like, and asked the question back, "How are you doing?"
Hazel's smile went even wider, knowing his brother had actually made a new friend. She then replied, "Well my roommate's name is Katherine, she's the RA of the Parker House - named after Brian Parker, the founding father."
Nico answered her with a nod. "Alright. Hey, by the way, do you know where Will's room is? Just curious." Nico blushed. He didn't mean it in that way, but it seemed like that's what Hazel thought. "What, no! That's not w-what I meant! I-I just..." Nico faded his voice as his face flushed with red.
"Alright, Nico, sure you don't," Hazel teased him, "He's in room 526."
Nico thanked Hazel and left. He probably didn't mean it in that way, but Nico did like Will. Will, although annoying, was endearing. Will was attractive, and there was nothing to not like about him, except for how stubborn he can be sometimes. But Nico saw Will as an easy-going, laidback person. Will was the perfect guy. He was sure Will wouldn't like him back, so he decided he wouldn't waste any time chasing him.
Nico knocked onto Will's door. Will greeted him with a large smile. "Hey, Nico!" Will said, "Come in!"
Nico entered Will's room and felt a bit overwhelmed. The place was extremely messy, and Nico saw a lot of Will's belongings scattered around the floor. He wondered why Will would just leave all his things on the floor. Will must've saw him staring and said, "I know, it's a mess, but my roommate insisted on it. His name's Rodger. He was the one who showed us around the place earlier, remember him?" Rodger was this pudgy, punk/goth kid who introduced Nico, Will, Lou Ellen, and Cecil to the campus. "Yeah, the punk kid, right?" Nico recalled.
"Yeah, that's the one."
They stayed quiet for a moment until Will told Nico that he had some more unpacking to do, so he excused himself. Nico wasn't sure how much more items Will had left to scatter so Nico just left and ran back to his room
He entered and saw Thomas on the bed, reading a book. He looked quite serious. He looked up to Nico as he entered and greeted him. "Hey, Nico, I've been wondering... since we'll be roommates, do you mind telling me about yourself?"
Nico usually would refuse to tell a someone he'd just known for an hour about his self but somehow he found himself agreeing to do. Probably because he wanted to see how someone would judge him if they didn't know that his dad was the Lord of The Underworld.
"Uh, sure." Nico answered, "I, uh, I lived with my mother for most of my childhood, in Italy. Her name was Maria di Angelo, she died when I was 12, after we moved to America. My dad then found me and my sister, and he took us to this school in Maine. My sister, she died a few weeks after my dad found us, when I was still 12. I kind of went through a depression state after that, so I ran away from my home, I met my half-sister, Hazel, in a camp in San Fransisco, and I sort of adopted her. Her mom left her at a young age. Anyways, I brought her to this camp in Long Island. She stayed there for a few weeks before going to back to another camp back in San Fransisco. I guess she couldn't leave the place. We're now both pretty close with dad. Anyway, now,she's attending this college, with her friends from camp-- from both camps. Anyway, what about you, what's your story?"
"Well," Thomas started, "As a child I grew up in Brooklyn. I lost my dad when I was 4. I had a stepmother back then, but she didn't really care about me. I never got to know my real mother, and my mom and dad never really got married. Anyway my stepmother found a new husband a few months after, and she gave birth to my stepbrothers, Douglas and Charlie. We grew up together, and I got well-acquaintanced with my stepfamily. My stepdad was rich, so he afforded this new house up in the West Side, and I since I wanted to go to Hunter College, that's where they sent me."
Nico nodded. He found it nice to share with someone. He'd only shared his story to a few people, including the Seven, Reyna, and Will. He saw that Thomas accepted him, unlike how the demigods back at camp did a few years ago. Nico realised it wasn't all about his parentage, it was about his personality. Thomas accepted Nico for who he is, and Nico was grateful for that.
Nico finished unpacking his things. He then went out for dinner. On his way out of campus, he saw Will. Will was talking with Cecil and Lou Ellen, and they actually looked like normal teenagers for once.
Nico approached Will and greeted him. "Hey, Nico," Will said, "we were just about to get some dinner, wanna come?"
"Really?" Nico looked at him in surprise. "Well, sure, why not?" Nico replied.
"Great. We were about to go this place about five blocks away, it's called Enigma. Some sort of Thai-Chinese fusion." Will announced, "Come on, let's go."
The place was fancy. It seemed like an upper class restaurant but they served simple Asian dishes. The interior design was somehow confortable, the mix of green with red and brown, with how the low-seated sofas were arranged with long dark tables. He decided that the place definitely looked much better than the Hades cabin. It was dark yet comforting.
As they ate their food, they talked together. They shared stories on what happened on their first day at college. Cecil said that he shared his room with a kid named Harry, and Lou Ellen shared her room with Clarrise. Will stated that his roommate, Rodger, was sort of odd, although he managed to get good grades. Next Nico told them about Thomas, the Brooklyn kid who lost both his parents, but found peace within his new family. After they finished dinner, they split bills and went back to the campus.
Nico came into his room to find Thomas asleep on his bed, with a book covered on top of his face. Nico chuckled and moved the book. He definitely did not feel any love towards Thomas, but he felt sort of a brotherly relationship towards him, even though he'd only known him for a day. Nico stripped out into his boxers, climbed onto his bed and closed his eyes. He decided he would need some rest before classes start tomorrow.
Nico woke up as usual, at around 5:30. He'd gotten used to waking early, since back at camp he usually practiced his swordfighting at this time of hour, when nobody would bother him.
He got into his clothes, showered, and went for a walk. As he opened the door, he saw Thomas stirring in his sleep. He lifted his head up and asked, "Nico, where are you going? It's like 6 in the morning."
"I'm going for a walk" Nico replied.
"Ok," Thomas answered. He saw Thomas drop back to sleep before heading out.
As he was jogging his way out of campus, Will caught up to him. "Hey, Nico!" Wil shouted from afar, "Wait up!" As Will caught up to him, Nico saw Will flash a grin, "I didn't know you were up this early."
"Well, I always am, Solace. And there's a lot more stuff you don't know about me."
"Well alright, Death Boy."
Nico had to get used to the nickname, because Will found it sort of cute. The son of Hades looked at him for a while, and realised that he was in love with this kid. Nico mumbled something Will couldn't quite hear. "What was that?" Will asked.
"I said don't call me that."
"Aww, alright, sunshine."
"Will I'm serious, I don't like the nicknames."
"Fine, fine." Will gave in.
They walked around the campus, ocassionally recounting their past experiences. They both laughed at some old stories, like when Leo attempted to land Festus with a great entrance but instead crash-landed onto the dirt. They shared some stories, and they told jokes. Nico felt like he wanted to get to know Will better, but he just couldn't get enough courage to ask him out. Finally, they parted and got back to their rooms. Nico came in and saw Thomas sitting on his bed, looking like he just woke up. "Nico?" He asked, "What time is it?" "8 o'clock, sleepyhead." Nico teased. Thomas panicked and got his stuff ready. Apparantly Thomas was not that much of a morning person. "I gotta get to class, bye Nico!"
Nico chuckled and got himself ready. He was about to go to his Philosophy class when Annabeth peered in the door. "Annabeth?" Nico was shocked. What's going--"
"Nico," Annabeth interrupted, "Half-Bloods. Grover sensed them in here. Probably not yet claimed and un-dangerous, since Grover said they were children of minor gods and goddesses."
"So... what do you want me to do?"
"Be careful. Don't let any monsters nearby. And probably try to find which of them are demigods."
"Ok." Nico said, and Annabeth left.
So that was something, Nico thought. Half-Bloods at this school. Shouldn't be a problem. Probably siblings or twins. All they had to do was find them.